George Washington Murray

Born: September 22, 1853 in Rembert, South Carolina

Died: April 21, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois

United States Representative, 1893–1895; 1896–1897

Republican from South Carolina

• Representative Murray was the only Black Member during his two terms in Congress, and the last African American to represent South Carolina until 1993. 
• Miller was born a slave near Rembert, South Carolina, in 1853. 
• Murray went to public schools and graduated from the State Normal College at Columbia, South Carolina, in 1876, which had only opened two years earlier in 1874 to train African Americans to be teachers. He then took up farming and teaching school.
• After an unsuccessful run 1890, Murray was elected to Congress in 1892. 
• On August 10, 1894, Murray read into the Congressional Record a list of 92 patents granted to African-Americans, 8 of which were his own patents for agricultural implements.
• By the 1890's, the laws passed in South Carolina, and throughout the South, to limit the rights of African American voters, made it impossible for Murray to be reelected. 
• He died on April 21, 1920 in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 72.
• U.S. Congressman James Enos "Jim" Clyburn (1993-present) is a distant relative. 

George Washington Murray

1902

Twentieth Century Negro Literature Collection

Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division

NYPL Digital Collections: George Washington Murray